A WOMAN who put on weight and did not know why has been diagnosed as a sleep eater.

"It was only when I woke up one morning surrounded by chocolate bar wrappers that I realised I must have been sleep-eating."

Kate Archibald

On most nights, Kate Archibald gets out of bed and sleep walks into her kitchen where she grabs any food she can find before eating it while asleep - and when she wakes up, she's full up and can't remember a thing.

Ms Archibald, 20, went up six dress sizes in the space of one year and was getting into arguments with flatmates over food going missing.

The Philosophy and World Religion student, who is originally from Canada, but moved to Perth, Scotland, 10 years ago, has now been diagnosed with Nocturnal Eating Disorder - a rare side effect of ADHD medication that means her body craves sustenance in the middle of the night.

Ms Archibald, who is in her third year at the University of Aberdeen, admitted she had 'no idea' why she had put on weight.

She said: "It was only when I woke up one morning surrounded by chocolate bar wrappers that I realised I must have been sleep-eating."

Ms Archinald told student newspaper The Tab that she used to take medication Adderall, which suppresses the appetite.

She explained: "When I was at boarding school, we had our tuck box at the bottom of our beds, and I would wake up when the medication wore off and feel ravenous, so I'd eat as much as I could.

"But when I got older, I stopped needing the medication as often, and because I didn't have any food in my uni room, I didn't think that I was waking up hungry any more.

"When the penny finally dropped that I was a sleep eater, I had stayed round a friend's house and in the morning there was a completely empty selection box - and the bed was filled with wrappers."

SWNS GROUP

Kate Archibald went from a size 10 to a size 16 because she ate while she slept

The student even eats peanuts when she's asleep - despite them making her face swell up.

She said: "There have been some mornings where I've woken up and my whole face had ballooned, so I must have eaten them in the night.

"One of my housemates had been given a big bar of Galaxy by her boyfriend as a treat - but I managed to eat it and wake up the next morning with my face covered in chocolate."

However, she has not been caught in the act - and she added: "Most nights I sleep naked, so that's probably a blessing."

Flatmates Ellie Harding and Ashleigh Black have to try and convince Kate to not eat their food, but reckon they are fighting a losing battle.

Ms Harding said: "If there's anything that we don't want her to eat we have to tell her.

"We just have to hope that her subconscious is listening and that she doesn't eat our good food.

"The funny thing is that she's forever going to Tesco in the morning to replace what she's ate of ours.

"The ultimate fear is that she'll cook something during one of her episodes. We don't want her burning the flat down."